Using Seamless Planning with SAP Datasphere

Seamless planning is the integration of SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere using SAP Analytics Cloud for planning and SAP Datasphere as a data platform creates a seamless planning solution.

Watch this short video introduction to find out how it works.

All SAP Analytics Cloud planning features are available for seamless planning models, including SAP Analytics Cloud predictive scenarios, however, there are some requirements. To use seamless planning:

• SAP Analytics Cloud has to run on HANA Cloud.
• SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere tenants have to be linked for seamless planning in a 1:1 relationship by the system owner. Linking will enable the selection of SAP Datasphere spaces as the data storage location for the supported object types.
• One SAP Analytics Cloud tenant can be linked with only one SAP Datasphere tenant.
• You need to own licenses for both SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere. In the seamless planning scenario, you would license the planning functionality via SAP Analytics Cloud users and license the hardware (storage, memory, compute) required for planning via SAP Datasphere capacity units.

More information and commonly asked questions can be found in the Technology Blogs by SAP post on seamless planning FAQ.

You still build your model in SAP Analytics Cloud even if you choose to store your data in SAP Datasphere. To create a model from a file that uses SAP Datasphere as the data storage location:

1. In the Modeler in SAP Analytics Cloud, create a new model.
2. In the Data Storage Location dialog, select SAP Datasphere. From the dropdown menu, select your SAP Datasphere space. Select Next. If you select SAP Analytics Cloud, then you cannot use seamless planning.
3. In the Select a data source dialog, select File (Local File or File Server).
4. In the Create Model from File dialog, use the Select Source File button, navigate to the file and select it. Once you select it, select Import.

If you want to enable SAP Datasphere users to consume the model in SAP Datasphere, then model needs to be exposed. To do this:

1. Enable Planning Capabilities by selecting the toggle.
2. Select Edit.
3. In the SAP Datasphere Fact Table dialog, name the fact table. Select OK.
4. Save the model.

SAP Analytics Cloud models expose the underlying data foundation as a Local Table (Fact), while the public dimension tables expose the master data as a Local Table (Dimension) associated with a translation table (storing the multi-language descriptions) and, in the future, hierarchy tables.

Once a model is exposed, SAP Datasphere can use SAP Analytics Cloud-exposed objects in graphical views, SQL views, analytic models, transformation flows, for example. However, remember that SAP Analytics Cloud objects appear in read-only mode in SAP Datasphere, meaning that SAP Datasphere modelers cannot make structural changes to these objects.

To access the fact table that was created when you exposed the model, open the SAP Datasphere space in the Data Builder.

In the Data Builder of SAP Datasphere, you can see that the SAP Analytics Cloud model was successfully deployed and the SAP Analytics Cloud model was exposed with the semantic type Fact.

When you open the fact table and select Data Viewer, you can view the model data. Since the model was exposed in read-only mode, you cannot change the structure from the Data Builder. Nevertheless, you can consume the model as the source in other workflows such as analytic models.

To use seamless planning for your plan data, you first have to create an Optimized Design Experience story in SAP Analytics Cloud using the model that you created and exposed to SAP Datasphere.

1. In your story, update the plan data. In the example below, you can see Plan Sales Revenue was updated.
2. Select the Advanced Publish option from the dropdown menu.
3. In the Publish or Revert Data by Version dialog, select the Publish icon.
4. Check the SAP Datasphere fact table to see the change to the plan data.

In SAP Datasphere, there are a variety of different ways that you can prepare data for consumption. In this lesson, we will create a model in SAP Datasphere using a Graphical View to query the SAP Analytics Cloud fact tables for sales revenue plan data and actual data.

Remember, the data models for plan data and actual data were created using the SAP Datasphere Data First approach. Meaning models were created in SAP Analytics Cloud using a file, an SAP Datasphere space was selected as the data storage location, and the model was exposed to SAP Datasphere.

To create a graphical view using the fact tables created from the SAP Analytics Cloud model:

1. In SAP Datasphere, go to Data Builder.
2. Select the SAP Datasphere space that was exposed to the model.
3. Select the fact table, in the following example, Fact_Table_Plan_Data is selected.
4. Select New Graphical View.

Since we want to combine the data from the two fact tables, we use the Union operator in the graphical view.

1. Drag the first data source, in this example, Fact_Table_Plan_Data onto the canvas.
2. Drag the second data source, Fact_Table_Actual_Data and drop it onto the Union operator.

The graphical view setup requires mapping between the dimensions and the measure of both data sources. Once the mapping is complete, save the graphical view.

Configure and deploy the graphical view by completing the following steps:

1. Toggle Expose for Consumption to On.
2. Toggle Run in Analytical Mode to On.
3. Deploy the view.
4. Once the Status is set to Deployed, select Create Analytic Model.

1. Update the name of the model. It is also possible to change the name when it's deployed.
2. Select Deploy. Once deployed, graphical view changes color as shown in the following example, and the Status updates to Deployed.
3. To view the model, select Preview.

Once the analytic model is deployed, it's ready for consumption in SAP Analytics Cloud. In the following example, you can see the plan data that was updated earlier in the lesson.

To use seamless planning for your actual data, you first have to create an Optimized Design Experience story in SAP Analytics Cloud using the model that you created and deployed in SAP Datasphere.

1. In the Select Dataset or Model dialog, select the SAP Datasphere storage location.
2. Select the SAP Datasphere space.
3. Select the SAP Datasphere analytic model.

In the following example, you can see the plan data that was updated earlier in the lesson.